1. Technical Field
This invention relates to stand-alone computer systems and, more particularly, to a portable multi-purpose system for handling applications such as control, exploitation, training and testing of military systems.
2. Discussion
Military or defense systems and the like generally require some type of computer control system for providing communication with or control of the system. Systems which generally require such control include unmanned vehicle control, mission planning, sensor control, and other various intelligence/electronic warfare and weapons systems functions. Such computer control systems enable operators to communicate with the system for purposes of controlling or testing the system. In addition, systems such as these may be used for purposes of exploiting or training an operator on how to operate a system.
Conventional computer control systems have been developed for providing control of such systems. However, conventional computer control systems are generally large and made up of a number of separate work stations. As a result, such conventional computer control systems generally are expensive to set up in the field and typically require several operators. In addition these conventional systems are relatively more difficult to operate and require significantly more operator training. In addition, conventional computer control systems are usually designed to control specific operations for a single system and therefore require significant and expensive changes in hardware and software in order to change from the operation of one system to another.
Portable computer control systems have been developed for handling specific operations involving individual systems. However, to the best of applicant's knowledge, such portable computer control systems generally have not provided the level of performance and functionality of the conventional full size work stations. In addition, the ability of most conventional portable control systems to handle functions for operating various systems have been limited to a few operations for a single remote system.
It is therefore desirable to obtain a portable, inexpensive, multi-purpose system for providing testing and control for a plurality of systems. In particular, it is desirable to provide for control, exploitation, training and testing of defense and remote communications systems. In addition, it is further desirable to obtain such a portable system which may operate any number of systems without requiring significant modifications. Furthermore, it is desirable to obtain such a portable system that is easy to operate and offers comparable performance and functionality of larger non-portable work stations.